The sitcom show developed by Dan Harmon called, Community, is one of my favorite shows and I believe I have seen it through five times now. For those who have not seen the show, it follows a group of seven strangers who wind up in the same class on their first day of community college. These strangers end up forming a study group and in turn, life-long friends and become a so-called ‘family.’ In our lesson this week, we learned that one of the core values of community psychology is respect for diversity (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). This refers to respecting and recognizing those who are different from us in certain aspects of life. In community psychology, diversity and cultural differences are seen as a strength instead of a weakness (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). When a group is high in diversity, it opens the group to different perspectives, lifestyles, and opinions.
In this show, the group is highly diverse when it comes to race, gender, social class, age, and religion. The age of the group ranges from college freshman to a 60 year old man. Throughout the show, the group’s diversity and teamwork make it clear that when working with those who are different from you, one can learn new points of view and realize that everyone is fighting their own battle. One of the members is played by Chevy Chase and he is the oldest member in the group. He is constantly making inappropriate and discriminatory remarks or jokes. Although the group always sets him straight and makes him better towards the end of the show, Chase also gets discriminated against throughout the show due to his old age.
As discussed in our textbook, “Intersectionality recognizes that people occupy multiple identity categories, that there is diversity within these categories, and that inequality, privilege, and power all play a role in influencing life experiences of individuals in different categories” (Gruman, Schneider, & Coutts, 2016). Everyone has their unique experiences when it comes to discrimination and this should be taken into consideration before we label someone based on a specific characteristic (age, gender, race). The single members in the show all have their own background story that includes their stories and how they ended up at this community college and what they face alone and together as a ‘community.’
The show does a good job of representing various types of people and how people who would never have interacted, end up becoming life-long friends who help one another whenever they need. Because the members are so different, for example, a Christian Black mother of two and a Muslim Arab young adult on the autism spectrum, it may seem difficult how within their group they can have strong bonds, but that is exactly what makes their ‘community’ so strong. Throughout the show, yes the group works collectively most of the time, but the strength of the group is best portrayed when two members of the group who you would think would have nothing to do with each other, end up being the ones to team up and help the overall theme.
For those who have never seen this show, I would definitely recommend it because it is very funny and a good show with an admirable cast. The show was created by the same guy who created Rick and Morty (2013), which was another reason why I continue to watch this show.
References
Gruman, J. A., Schneider, F. W., & Coutts, L. M. (Eds.). (2016). Applied social psychology :
Understanding and addressing social and practical problems. SAGE Publications.